Hazama
Hazama, also known by his extended alias Hazama Honoka, is the captain of the NOL's intelligence department and one of the main antagonists of the BlazBlue series. He is the artificial vessel of Yuuki Terumi, the creator of the Azure Grimore. As of recently, Hazama and Terumi are now separate entities with the former having his own agenda and goals. He is the 5th main character of the BlazBlue series. In the Japanese version, he was voiced by Yuichi Nakamura ever since Calamity Trigger. In the English dubbed version, he was voiced by Erik Davies from Calamity Trigger to Continuum Shift, and currently voiced by Doug Erholtz (who also played Greasebeard) since Continuum Shift Extend. History Origin Hazama was created by Relius Clover to become Terumi's new vessel after the loss of Kazuma Kval during the Dark War. ''Remix Heart'' Hazama talked with Relius about the 15th Hierarchical, and the possibility of the Crimson Grimoire lying within it. Intrigued by the prospect, Hazama traveled there to search for it. When Hazama arrived, he found a mortally wounded Seifer Albar stumbling away with the Burning Red in hand. Hazama fired his Nox Nyctores, the Geminus: Anguium: Ouroboros, into Seifer's back, killing him and allowing him to take the Burning Red. He then shot a glance at Mai Nastume before walking away with the Grimoire. ''Calamity Trigger'' Hazama is supervised in Noel Vermillion's mission to bring back Jin. Throughout the game he tries to avoid fighting anyone, claiming he "is not good with that sort of thing". He appears twice in Rachel Alucard's story mode the first to mock Valkenhayn R. Hellsing and the second to mock Rachel herself. In the True Ending After the final fight, he appears before Noel and Ragna, and after Rachel arrives, is recognized by Rachel and Ragna as Yuuki Terumi, the one behind the attack on the church years before. The two attack Hazama immediately, but he simply shrugs it off, and taunts Ragna over the church fire before departing. After the True Ending, he issues confidential verbal orders to Tsubaki Yayoi to assassinate Noel and Jin. ''Trigger Shift'' Traveling in an airship, Hazama received the call of Jin Kisaragi had been captured and issued that Jin be moved to a ship in the 5th port and that it should stay docked. Hazama then contacted Relius to tell him that Noel Vermillion had inherited the Azure, only to find that Relius was now going to visit the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi so he could perform some 'tests'. ''Conitumm Shift'' In Continuum Shift, he appears as the main antagonist, planning to destroy the core unit, Amaterasu, using Noel Vermillion, who becomes the Perfect Murakumo Unit, Kusanagi, Mu-12. He sacrificed many NOL members in order to temper her. When he and Ragna battle, the former overwhelms the latter and proceeds to take his life. But Nu-13's soul in Lambda-11's body sacrifices herself to protect Ragna and gives him her Idea Engine before dying. This allows him to access the True Azure and defeats Hazama. However, Ragna does not kill him, and the latter calls the former a chicken before falling unconscious. During the ending, it is revealed that Hazama and Relius are working for Ragna and Jin's little sister Saya, who is now the Imperator of the Novus Orbis Librarium. It's revealed that Terumi, like Hakumen and Rachel, will fade away without an Observer. Takamagahara, and later Mu (with the power of the Eye), with whom he shared a Life Link, observed him in BlazBlue. However, Mu lost that power after she turned back to Noel and Takamagahara was attacked by a magical virus from Phantom, losing its power. Terumi did not fade away, however, because he had awakened Hades Izanami, her vessel Saya in observing Terumi. As an added measure, hi is using Ragna's hatred as a force to bind him to this world, as well and the reason he was able to destroy Takamagahara. ''Chronophantasma'' He was tasked with erecting a barrier over the Ikaruga region, preparing the 13th Prime Field Device and managing Tsubaki Yayoi. Among his other goals was taking care of Ragna the Bloodedge and the remaining Six Heroes. In the Six Heroes story, Trinity forcibly switches the positions of Hazama and Terumi, making Terumi "outer" in order to bypass Hazama's Life Link with Noel Vermillion and allow Hakumen and Jubei to eliminate him. However, Terumi is saved by Phantom at the last minute, and switches back with Hazama off-screen. Hazama is later found and attacked by Trinity, but uses her lingering feeling for Kazuma Kval to get her to let her guard down and attack, only to be stopped by Hakumen. The two battle, but while Hakumen seems to have an overwhelming advantage, he is unable to kill Hazama, who leaves with Phantom in tow. Trinity tries once again to force Hazama and Terumi to switch, but something interrupts her. Later on during the summoning of the Master Unit Amaterasu, Hazama is seen using the Azure Grimoire to gather souls into the cauldron, kicking off the "Day of Destruction". When Hakumen encounters Terumi again near the tower, he explains that whatever interrupted Trinity's attempt to switch them cause Terumi's consciousness to separate from Hazama and transfer to a doppelganger body. While Hakumen and Terumi fight, Hazama is ambushed and bound by Trinity, which causes Terumi to become paralyzed as well. Hakumen uses his Time Killer technique to erase Terumi's "time" and kill him, which appears to have some devastating effect on Hazama. He stabs Trinity while she's unfocused, saying that he'll take her down with him, and falls with Platinum into the water below. Their whereabouts became unknown afterwards. ''Central Fiction'' After Terumi's defeat, Hazama has lost not his connection to him, but became nicer than he was before. He also is still shady as ever and is revealed to have been faking his amnesia having an agenda. In his Act III story, he fights Terumi and has stated that he wants to be in charge of the plans and they went to where Ragna was with both of them laughing. In the story mode, he reveals that he wants to see what pain is and as Trinity stabbed him in his chest he began to feel emotions for the first time and desires to feel that sensation. ''BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle'' Hazama appears in the Spin-off Cross Tag Battle as one of the playable characters. Personality Hazama maintains a calm and quiet demeanor around most people, pretending to be harmless as a member of the Intelligence Department. He claims to hate fighting and prefers to avoid conflict. This, however, is simply a guise to his true nature. When people see through it, he shows his true colors as selfish and manipulative; destroying other people's lives and twisting their beliefs for his own gain. He has no qualms with killing those who get in his way, and doesn't seem to show any kind of remorse for his actions. After being separated from Terumi in Chronophantasma and Central Fiction, Hazama seems to become more different than Terumi as without him Hazama is much nicer and is nowhere near as deranged from him but is still shady and a trickster due to him faking his amnesia but has different desires from Terumi and doesn't want to host Terumi anymore but instead become his own entity. Despite separating from Terumi at the end of BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, he is shown to be just as cruel and detached as Terumi himself, working in sync with him with almost no problems and taking just as much pleasure from the suffering of others as he did before. Hazama takes every opportunity to upset others by mocking them, deliberately provoking them, or even bringing up and prodding at a sensitive topic, all for his own enjoyment. Even when he is on the losing side of a conflict, he would take the time to insult and taunt his foes. His cruelty seems to be an inherent trait regardless of the fusion with Terumi, as the latter brings it out much more often compared to Hazama's own volition; while he has his nice demeanor in Centralfiction – he still relishes in brutal torture and exhibits sadistic tendencies in an almost lustful manner or whenever he is provoked, despite largely being someone who minds his own business. This can be seen when he tortures Rachel during the third act of Centralfiction by killing her over a hundred times, just to test the limits of her immortality. He was even going to cut her body to pieces with his jagged chains and throw said pieces in different parts of the Boundary; despite this, Hazama is still much more subtle in his disposition compared to how blunt and openly-foul-mouthed Terumi normally is; it is even to the point where Terumi himself cannot fully confide in Hazama's wild card status. His goals are completely different from those of Yūki Terumi, who wants a world ravaged by sorrow and despair. Hazama himself wishes to feel the mental pain that comes from going against his conscience; something he lacks as a sociopath. He continues to commit worse and worse atrocities just to get his sadistic kicks and really push the limits of his own sociopathy. Every action he takes can be seen as a contributing factor to his myriad of social and physical experiments in pursuit of further knowledge. His need to feel such things also stems from the wound inflicted to him at the end of Chronophantasma by Platinum, which due to his identity as a mere vessel without a heart, heightened his sensation of feeling alive and results in a need to understand pain. Hazama is shown to have an innate love for boiled eggs, swallowing them whole after shelling them. It is symbolic of his parallels with snakes, who perform a similar action in their predatory mindset, and fits into his overall theme of snakes and serpents. This is a trait he shares with his predecessor, Kazuma Kval. Appearance Hazama's appearance is taken after the shady, creepy archetype. He is depicted with bright green hair and an ever-present smile with his eyes closed, belying a demonic nature. He wears a simple black suit with a white shirt underneath, short brown gloves, and brown steel-toed shoes. He dons a pair of black trousers held up by two brown belts. He completes the outfit with a black fedora hat to close the shady visage. Upon revealing himself as Terumi, he removes his hat and tie, his hair spikes upward, and he opens his eyes, which are gold with snake-like slits for pupils. His smile also becomes that of a psychopathic killer. In his ghost form, he appears as a black apparition with a vague humanoid outline and green veins. His facial features consist of a single beady green eye and a red mouth curled into an eerie, wide smile. Powers and Abilities In battle, Hazama wields the Nox Nyctores named Geminus Anguium: Ouroboros; a steel hook crafted in the shape of a snake that he summons in front of him, attached to a chain of green/black energy, which he can use to attack opponents from afar, or reel them in, as well as zip around the battlefield quickly, if not instantly, and close gaps between him and his foes. On the other hand, he also uses Balisong-style butterfly knives for close-range attacks. Most of his attacks are similarly based on summoning green/black energy and serpentine apparitions to attack his foes, with his Astral Finish being a gigantic cobra of green energy composed of many smaller snakes. Outside of his magical prowess, Hazama is incredibly nimble and flexible, his moves vaguely reminiscent of dance techniques. Having been the original creator of the Azure Grimoire, he possesses his own imitation, activating it in an identical manner to mock Ragna. When activated, a large magical circle envelops him, slowly sapping away vitality of anyone who steps inside. Also, Ragna was unable to use his own Azure Grimoire until he absorbed Lambda's Idea Engine. In the Story Mode of the first game, Hazama's true form as Terumi depicts him as a black apparition with green glowing veins and aura, or alternatively, his facial features become psychotic and his hair spikes up. According to dialogue, Hazama (at least in his true form) is able to erase memories by "eating" them, saying that they are delicious. He has used this ability twice so far, both of which were on Jin Kisaragi. Hazama's drive is Ouroboros, utilizing his Nox Nyctores' namesake to soar around the battlefield using his weapon to pull him in, regardless of whether or not Ouroboros has made contact, in order to make up for his lack of long-range or projectile attacks. Above his Heat is a counter for his Ouroboros that determines how many times he can pull himself in (2 at max). Though it usually recharges after two seconds, he can get some back by simply hitting the opponent with the weapon and allowing it to click a second after it lands. Relationships Allies *Yuuki Terumi *Relius Clover *Tohru Adachi *Hilda *Cinder Fall *Roman Torchwick *Neo Politan Enemies *Ragna the Bloodedge *Jin Kisaragi *Noel Vermillion *Rachel Alucard *Makoto Nanaya *The Investigation Team *Hyde Kido *Team RWBY Trivia *Hazama's Drive name "Ouroboros" refers to either a serpent or a dragon. The Ouroboros is usually represented by a snake biting its own tail, symbolizing infinity or a never-ending cycle. His Overdrive is named "Jormungand" which references the Jörmungandr of Norse mythology that grew large enough to bite its own tail, signifying the world's end if it ever let go. Coincidentally, the symbol of Jörmungandr looks somewhat similar to the top half of Hazama's crest. Even more coincidentally, it reflects Terumi's relationship with Ragna, as Ragnar Lodbrok was a hero who slain the serpent Jörmungandr in some legends. Interestingly, the serpent itself is the symbol of Ouroboros in Norse mythology. *During the extra scene from the Arcade Mode of Continuum Shift II, where he unleashes Mu-12, he's briefly voiced by Spike Spencer, who also voiced Arakune. *Hazama's birthday is on April 29 which is internatial dance day ferncing his dance battler skils. External Links *Hazama on the BlazBlue Wiki. 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